This Article  • References  • Full text PDF  • Reply to article  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citation map  • Citing articles on HighWire  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in this journal  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

Construct Validity of the Concept

Jerome Kroll, MD; Lloyd Sines, PhD; Kenneth Martin; Steven Lari, MD; Richard Pyle, MD; Janet Zander, MD

Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1981;38(9):1021-1026.

Abstract
• The validity of the concept of the borderline personality disorder was investigated by comparing assigned diagnoses of 117 consecutive inpatients using Gunderson's Diagnostic Interview for Borderlines (DIB), the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), the diagnostic criteria of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, ed 3 (DSM-III), and the checklist described by Spitzer et al. Twenty-one patients (13 women, eight men) were identified by the DIB as borderline; ten patients (eight women, two men) met DSM-III criteria for borderline personality disorder. A characteristic 8-4-2 mean profile on the MMPI emerged for the DIB-diagnosed borderline patients. The relationship between the DIB and (1) DSM-III diagnosis of borderline, (2) Spitzer unstable type borderline, and (3) MMPI characteristics are consistent, but of a low order of magnitude, thus lending at least partial support to the validity of the borderline construct. Nevertheless, the parsimonious use of the borderline diagnoses by DSM-III when compared with the DIB raises serious questions regarding the usefulness of the borderline concept.

Author Affiliations
From the Department of Psychiatry, University of Minnesota Medical School (Drs Kroll, Sines, Lari, Pyle, and Zander), and the Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota (Mr Martin), Minneapolis.

Footnotes
Accepted for publication Oct 14, 1980.

Reprint requests to Box 393 Mayo, University of Minnesota Hospitals, Minneapolis, MN 55455 (Dr Kroll).

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES

Prevalence of Personality Disorders in Community-Living Elderly
Ames and Molinari
J Geriatr Psychiatry Neurol 1994;7:189-194.
ABSTRACT  

Schizotaxia Revisited
Meehl
Arch Gen Psychiatry 1989;46:935-944.
ABSTRACT  

Comorbidity of Borderline Personality Disorder
Fyer et al.
Arch Gen Psychiatry 1988;45:348-352.
ABSTRACT  

Auditory P300 in Borderline Personality Disorder and Schizophrenia
Kutcher et al.
Arch Gen Psychiatry 1987;44:645-650.
ABSTRACT  

Progress in Pharmacotherapy of Borderline Disorders: A Double-blind Study of Amitriptyline, Haloperidol, and Placebo
Soloff et al.
Arch Gen Psychiatry 1986;43:691-697.
ABSTRACT  

A Structured Interview for the DSM-III Personality Disorders: A Preliminary Report
Stangl et al.
Arch Gen Psychiatry 1985;42:591-596.
ABSTRACT  

Diagnostic Efficiency and DSM-III
Widiger et al.
Arch Gen Psychiatry 1984;41:1005-1012.
ABSTRACT  

Structured Interviews and Borderline Personality Disorder
Loranger et al.
Arch Gen Psychiatry 1984;41:565-568.
ABSTRACT  

Discriminating Borderline Disorder From Other Personality Disorders: Cluster Analysis of the Diagnostic Interview for Borderlines
Barrash et al.
Arch Gen Psychiatry 1983;40:1297-1302.
ABSTRACT  

Test-Retest Reliability of the Diagnostic Interview for Borderlines
Cornell et al.
Arch Gen Psychiatry 1983;40:1307-1310.
ABSTRACT  

The Borderline Syndrome: I. Testing Three Diagnostic Systems
McGlashan
Arch Gen Psychiatry 1983;40:1311-1318.
ABSTRACT  

The Borderline Syndrome: II. Is It a Variant of Schizophrenia or Affective Disorder?
McGlashan
Arch Gen Psychiatry 1983;40:1319-1323.
ABSTRACT  

Psychiatric Disorders in the Families of Borderline Patients
Soloff and Millward
Arch Gen Psychiatry 1983;40:37-44.
ABSTRACT  

Diagnosing Borderline Conditions in an Outpatient Setting
Koenigsberg et al.
Arch Gen Psychiatry 1983;40:49-53.
ABSTRACT  

Research Diagnostic Criteria and DSM-III: An Annotated Comparison
Williams and Spitzer
Arch Gen Psychiatry 1982;39:1283-1289.
ABSTRACT  

Are There Borderlines in Britain? A Cross-validation of US Findings
Kroll et al.
Arch Gen Psychiatry 1982;39:60-63.
ABSTRACT